UAD EMT® 250 Classic Electronic Reverb Plug-In

User Review
Sound Quality		5
Ease of use		5
Features		5
Bang for buck		4
Overall: 4.75

UAD EMT® 250 Classic Electronic Reverb Plug-In

Published by Jack Morgan
5th March 2012

More product information

UAD EMT® 250 Classic Electronic Reverb Plug-In

I’ve spent four weeks mixing with this (2 x demo periods) and intend to purchase as soon as I have the money. This is a very professional sounding reverb, especially for vocals. It’s got a gorgeous tail and avoids both being boomy in the low frequencies and fizzly in the high frequencies.. just a beautiful sound.

The GUI is a treat – you can fantasise that you’re sitting with one of the real units from 1976 and pulling the arms on its robot torso. It feels very authentic and lovable. The EMT 250 is obviously a very respected unit, having been used on records by Brian Eno and George Massenburg – and soon, just as importantly, me. I feel very privileged to be able to use this reverb, since only 250 of the original EMT units were ever made. And I’m able to automate the parameters of all of the effects. HA!

This is not just a reverb unit – the other effects are equally as strong. The echo, delay, chorus and “special” sounds are very tasty indeed, giving your mixes a distinctive glisten.

Having bought UAD’s EMT 140 plate plugin as well as Sonnox’s Oxford reverb plugin, I thought I would not have to spend any more money on reverbs. I was wrong. Unfortunately I have fallen in love with the EMT 250.

By oscardvine on 6th March 2012

Sound Quality		5
Ease of use		4
Features		5
Bang for buck		5
Overall: 4.75

EMT® 250 Classic Electronic Reverb Plug-In

To start this off - this is the best reverb plug-in I have ever even touched. If you crank up the d/w slide, and really listening to just the reverb, you're gonna be amazed. It can dull, short, long, airy, spacey and everything in between, while always remaining a warm and smooth sound. This isn't just a reverb either - you could call this a multi effect! If you are on the look out for a reverb, a delay, a chorus and a phaser - and want real analogue warmth - this is it. You can't do better then this!

With all these features, you easily think it's got to be complicated - but no. It's really easy, and if you spend 5 minutes playing with it, you will already feel comfortable with it!

I can't stress this enough - the sound is really amazing - try it on vocals for example. You can get a vintage, bit of Michael Jackson feel with it. and you can also get the perfect pop/indie room, which is not in the way, but makes everything just glue together and feel alive!

By grooveminister on 17th March 2012

Sound Quality		5
Ease of use		5
Features		5
Bang for buck		5
Overall: 5

Pleasant surprise!

I have to admit, that when I bought my UAD-2 during the Manley+Studer+EMT250 promo - I didnt´t even know about the EMT 250, only about the EMT plates.

I have a Lexicon 300L which I like for it´s glue with the dry sources and a t.c. M3000 which I like for it´s complexity although it doesn´t glue easily.

When I tried the EMT 250, my first impression was already exceptional.
But somehow I remained a bit sceptical because of the limited control set and 2% of UAD-2 QUAD DSP usage.

In the mean time I´ve gotten used to the EMT 250, and I´ve been using it on many mixes.
The single algo must be the work of a genius - because it sounds great from the shortest to the longest settings.
Many great reverbs suck on drums because they are not dense enough.
The EMT 250 has no problem with percussive stuff and provides a great random texture at all settings.

I like to use the EMT 250 with the emulation of the analog circuits switched off: The original EMT 250 had no digital I/O - and I like the fact that UA´s incarnation does.
In my experience this verb glues even better than the Lexicon verbs.

I wouldn´t have thought that the very first digital reverb would have an algorithm we would still find incredibly musical 35 years after - so I´m even more surprised that the effects part of the unit sounds great too.
And: UAD-2 Users can open multiple instances and this way really benefit from the additional programs.

Normally, I wouldn´t always rate UAD plugins at "10" for bang for the buck.
But at 2% QUAD DSP usage, and considering the price of hardware verbs in it´s class, I don´t feel to have no another choice.

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